Helping hands? Proposed cuts to the state-mandated General Assistance program, which serves as an emergency resource for individuals who have exhausted all other options (applicants must demonstrate need and have liquidated all accounts in order to qualify), threaten to shift costs to Portland taxpayers and increase the city's "service center" burden, according to Mayor Michael Brennan.

Going green As the city considers expanding its community garden program, Portland has the opportunity to delve deeper into urban permaculture ("permanent agriculture") — building ecological systems that model nature, with plants that work together with minimal maintenance to create self-sustaining biodiversity, on city land.

Blue collar girls Walk around the cavernous "hard trades" wing of the Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) — which houses the auto-mechanic, carpentry, and welding programs, among others — and you're bound to witness a hubbub of activity, the bubbling-over energy of teenagers at work, the industrial sounds and smells of machinery and tools.

Mixing old and New Volume Two of The New Guard literary review is 140 pages longer than its predecessor, as though its creators decided to demonstrate its growing relevance by gleefully stuffing it with more material.

Lights, camera, action! Each episode of TV Show, the multimedia collaboration between Bomb Diggity Arts and Shoot Media Project (itself a part of Creative Trails, a community support program for adults with intellectual disabilities), explores a diverse range of topics.

Going green Since 2006, CLYNK has been recycling bottles and cans at its South Portland plant (more than 270 million, according to the ticking counter on its website), allowing customers to accumulate balances in personal accounts that can be redeemed for cash or donated to education and charity organizations.

Dirty business We may have narrowly avoided Keystone XL (for now), but local environmental activists say that Maine and New England are not safe from "the dirtiest oil on earth," with a huge Canadian oil company seeking other routes to pump crude oil out of Alberta.

Coming to the table Even as Governor Paul LePage and others tout the importance of the community college system in Maine, the adjunct professors at Southern Maine Community College and the University of Southern Maine are without contracts.

Removing local control The state is pursuing a lawsuit against a Blue Hill farmer that could have "a chilling effect on Maine's growing local food movement and the promise of real economic development in our rural communities," according to the Downeast activist organization Food for Maine's Future.

Getting healthy Several Portland restaurants will offer menu items at the price of their calorie count on Tuesday, January 3 — a nod toward the city's obesity prevention initiative and recent efforts to get local, non-chain eateries to provide nutrition information to their diners.

Going green Governor Paul LePage dealt a blow to Maine's green building industry earlier this month when he issued an executive order expanding the types of "green" wood products that can be used in state building construction.

Rights watch The $662 billion military spending bill expected to go before both houses of Congress later this week includes controversial provisions allowing the US military to arrest and indefinitely detain, without trial, anyone suspected of terrorism-related crimes, including American citizens.